Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Kitchen Tip: Silk-Free Corn

With summer in full swing, sweet corn is starting to appear on the menu. We LOVE sweet corn – and my family does too. My dad grew up on a farm, and tells stories of entire meals of sweet corn and garden fresh tomatoes. Yum, yum.

One thing that makes sweet corn a challenge to eat is the silk. You know – all those little fine “corn hairs” that coat your cob. You know what I’m talking about, right?

Botanically, these are the stigma – or the part of the corn plant that is responsible for receiving pollen in order for the plant to be pollinated.

Regardless. They are a pain. They get all over the floor when you try to husk the corn. They get stuck in your teeth if you don’t get all of them off the cob.

Well, here’s a tip from my dad for how to get all that silk off your corn cob:

Microwave the corn (husk and all) for 4 minutes per ear.

Remove the corn from the microwave using a hot pad or oven mit.

Slice the end off the corn.

It should look something like this.

4. Pick up the corn by the top of the husk and give it a few shakes.

The cob will slide right out & will be silk free!

Two tips for success:

(1) It’s important for you to slice and remove the husks right away after you take the corn out of the microwave. If you wait too long, it will be harder for you to get the husks off. Still possible – just harder.

(2) Be sure to shake the corn over a plate & not the floor… otherwise you’ll be picking corn up off the floor!

Now, I haven’t figured out how to do this if you plan to boil the corn or grill it… but I’ll be playing around with it this summer.

20 comments:

Can you cook multiple ears together in the microwave? Would you multiply the 4 minutes by each ear or each batch? Thanks for the great tip! My family loves corn on the cob and this would make it a lot easier for my corn husking boys. :)

Shelley, Microwaving replaces the boiling method and is sooo much better. I haven't boiled corn in over four years. I also bake mine in the oven. Same scenario - no silk and delicious. Here's how......

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place corn husks directly on the oven rack and roast for 30 minutes or until corn is soft. Peel down the husks and use as a handle when eating. Enjoy either way.

Sorry about that, Jackie! But... the key is really cutting enough of the bottom of the corn off and then grabbing hold of the top (all the silk tops) of the corn really well when you shake it. I've had better and better success each time I try it!

This is amazing! The worst part of corn is definitely the husking process that takes time and makes a mess, this totally eliminates that hassle, love it! I just tried this method to get some corn off the cob that I'm going to put in soup tonight and it worked beautifully!

I wonder if you want to grill it or cook it a little more if you could just slightly reduce the time to allow for it to be on the grill just long enough to get some flavor or something like that. May be something to play around with a little bit if that's what you want to do. This definitely eliminates the need to boil it, it just steams itself right in the husk!

To the previous commenter who still had silks left on, I did find that you need to make sure you have a really good grip on the husks/silks when you shake the cob out. I had an ear or two that didn't come out as clean and that was definitely the problem.

I had to try this after reading the post.It works like a dream!!!!!!!!! I only glanced at the post, so not paying close attention, I cut the bottom of the corn off before cooking it, now looking today I see I was to cut after, let me tell you even cutting before cooking , worked like a charm! I was telling all my friends about this. Thank You for sharing . Love your blog. Tina from Pa

When cooking, please make sure to follow kitchen hygiene and safety -- cook meat until internal temperature is at safe levels, always check labels for allergens, and use caution in the kitchen -- I love sharing recipes, but I am not liable for damages done as a result of trying these recipes.